


Ruth

by Treon



Series: Who I Was, Who I Will Be [1]
Category: Megillat Rut | Book of Ruth, תנ"ך | Tanakh
Genre: Belonging, Collection: Purimgifts Day 1, Gen, Identity Issues, Immigration & Emigration, Peoplehood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-07
Updated: 2017-03-07
Packaged: 2018-09-30 14:34:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10165115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Treon/pseuds/Treon





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AstriferousSprite](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AstriferousSprite/gifts).



Things had been so much simpler back in Moab.  
  
"Whether you go, I shall go," she'd told Naomi, her mother-in-law.  "Your people shall be my people, and your God shall be my God."  
  
She meant every word she'd said.  She just hadn't taken into account that Naomi's people would not be so willing to accept her as one of their own.  
  
The people of Bethlehem were an insular bunch.  To them she was "the Moabite", as much as she tried to fit in.  She had adopted their funny way of speaking - so similar to her native dialect, and yet so strange.  She dressed as they did, ate as they did, and worshiped their invisible God.  Nothing seemed to help.  
  
"Don't pay them any attention," Naomi tried to console her when she came home after another trying day in the fields.  "They don't mean any harm."  
  
But the harm was done anyway.  "I left Moab, why do they still call me 'Moabite'?"  
  
"It's not an insult," Naomi replied. "You _are_ from Moab."  
  
Even Naomi could not understand her.  
  
But the older woman could see that her daughter-in-law was troubled.  "They're upset at _me_ , not at you.  Our family left the village when things got rough.  They won't forgive that betrayal so easily."  
  
And yet... nobody jeered at Naomi when she walked the streets.  Kids didn't make funny faces when Naomi passed by.    
  
Things did improve after she married Boaz.  He was one of the chiefs of the town, an important man.  The people still didn't see her as their own, not completely, but they kept quiet about it.  The same people who had cursed her for Naomi's past deeds, now treated her with the respect they accorded Boaz.  
  
Now, instead of loudly proclaiming her 'the stranger', they tried to avoid the subject.  It had happened a few times now that she had come close to a group of neighbors talking about Moab, but as soon as they spotted her, they shifted their eyes away, the discussion petering out into an awkward silence.  
  
She had left Moab, but Moab was always right there, in front of her.  The brown, naked mountains of her birthplace stood out sharply against the blue sky, so deceptively close, she could almost reach out her hand and touch them.  But the distance was a mirage, for between them, far below her, was the sea where no creature could live.    
  
She often found herself lost in thought as she stared out at the mountains of Moab.  She could pick out the geography of her childhood.  Her family was over there, on that high plateau.  Were they wondering how she was doing?  Did they understand why she left?      
  
Was it all worth it?  
  
"Do you miss it?" Boaz had come up behind her.  So silent that she hadn't noticed until he spoke.  
  
She turned to look at him. Her husband, her savior.  Her 'redeemer', they called it here.  
  
Their son, Oved, nestled sleeping against her bosom.    
  
People might think she married Boaz because she had no choice, but she did love him.  He looked at her with concern now, his eyes searching hers, trying to read her feelings.  
  
He didn't understand her, either.  
  
"I do," she admitted, drawing her baby close.  "But my family is here."  
  
It did not matter what the people here thought of her.  Moab was her past, Israel was her destiny. 


End file.
